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Sustainable Development Foundation's Implementation
Approaches
SDF adheres to the principle that sustainable
natural resource management must acknowledge the right of
communities to participate. The foundation recognizes the
importance of building the capacity of the communities and
community organizations, both in terms of ideology and practice.
SDF's approaches prioritize raising communities' awareness
of the importance of their concrete participation in natural
resource management. SDF also promotes communities' access
to information, and improves their ability to use information
to analyze problems by themselves. Equally important is the
active promotion of the roles of women and youths, and the
encouragement of their active participation in natural resource
management.
SDF operates at several levels to ensure
sustainable natural resource management and sustainable livelihoods
for rural communities. It aims to support the establishment
of people's organizations, and networking between such organizations.
It works at the local, provincial, regional and national levels
and tries to make connections between natural resource management
issues occurring at these different levels. Furthermore, the
foundation acknowledges the importance of developing knowledge
in a holistic and integrated manner, and to this end supports
collaboration between different stakeholders from society
and civil society both nationally and internationally. It
promotes transparency with regards public policy, and good
governance generally, focusing on human rights, people participation,
and decentralization.
Strengthening and Supporting Concrete
Practices by Community Organisations in Conservation, Rehabilitation
and Protection of Natural Resources
Building capacity and empowerment of local
communities are the foundations of sustainable natural resource
management. Community empowerment means that community members,
men, women and youth, have awareness of the responsibility
and the need for mutual engagement of natural resource management
and conservation. Therefore, it is important that these groups
of people have the knowledge and understanding of the causes
and effects of natural resources degradation as well as being
able to links these to the problems found in their community.
Through these abilities, they can take an initiative to address
the problem of local problems caused by external factors by
themselves.
There are a number of cases where communities
have adopted their own conservation, rehabilitation practices
to revive and protect the natural resources and environment
in the local areas. This includes the establishment of conservation
zones such as fish sanctuaries, the development of regulations
on resource utilisation, and the improvements of production
systems that enhances food security, rehabilitation of soil
and water resources, as well as strengthening local economies
through the establishment of village funds to support their
own environmental initiatives. Furthermore, empowered communities
also develop alternative livelihoods based on their local
traditions and customs for attaining participatory and sustainable
natural resource management.
Since their resource ecosystems are complexly
linked and cannot be separated from one another like administrative
areas, SDF also puts emphasis on linking networks of community
organizations to take part in natural resource management.
For example, watershed management requires local communities
residing in the watershed areas to participate in the management.
This is because the destruction of resources in one area would
affect communities and resources in another.
It is necessary to foster co-operation among
communities in the form of networks as a forum for sharing
experience and knowledge, which will be conducive to sustainable
natural resource management as a whole. Furthermore, because
the problem of natural resource management is largely connected
to structural problems of public policies and laws, co-operation
among grassroots organizations helps to resolve conflicts
and advocate for community participation in natural resource
management. SDF works under these concepts and through these
approaches to ensure participatory and sustainable management
of natural resources and the environment in the long run.
'Creating forums for
different communities to meet and share their experience
and knowledge is a very important activity. Through
these forums, the community has opportunity to develop
their knowledge in natural resource management as
well improving their understanding about the problems
and situation related to natural resources and conflicts.
Furthermore, the forums also serve as a platform for
collective thinking about solutions to the problems
related to policy and law at the local and national
levels.'
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